Happy Birthday Alex
by Kittypaws99
Summary: "Happy Birthday Alex!" the man snarled. "I hope you like your present!" The door creaked open and Alex could just about mke out the outline of four giant reptiles. Dah dah DAH! Read to find out more! Rated T just in case! :
1. Chapter 1

**A/N-This is my first story so please review! I wanna know if it's good or not!**

**P.S this is the second version of chapter 1 so thank you Leisa Hawk09 and Ichime for the fab reviews an d thank you The winged colonel for adding this story to your favourite list!**

**P.P.S I think my goldfish is dead but it may not be-Harry Hoodini is a wonder fish-she once went missing and we were sure that the cat had her but in the morning, I went down stairs and looked at her bowl. Sure enough there she was as right as rain! I just hope the same thing can happen again-fingers crossed!**

**Love**

**Kitxxx**

"Happy Birthday, Alex!" the man snarled. "I hope you like your present!" .The man could barely be seen in the dimly lit room that Alex was in. Alex was half sitting, half lying in an old hospital bed. He could barely work out what the man was saying as his jaw had problems but he could easily imagine. Then the man walked out of the plain room cackling as he did so. "Phew!" Alex sighed in relief although he still had a bad feeling in his stomach about what was next going to happen next. Did the man really just walk out the door? Would he come back bringing something in or would something make its own way in? Alex was tense and helpless.

There was nothing he could do to defend him self or run away. He tried to psychologically prepare himself for what ever surprise was on its way next. All of the criminals he had previously encountered had been psychos; the one who had just been in the room was exactly the same. Not knowing what was going to happen next was the worst bit. The man could bring anything in or make anything happen. For all Alex knew, the bed he was propped up on could explode any second now. A sense of uneasiness crept through Alex's body. "Help." he squeaked uneasily. He stood up and shuffled forward a little bit aiming to walk to the window. Just then anxiety got the better of him and he collapsed. Luckily he fell onto a chair that stood by the bed. He felt a pang of sadness inside him. He felt sorry for Jack. She loved him like he was her own child. What would she do if something happened to him? Something more serious then getting shot just above the heart?

Alex began to feel less dizzy so he heaved himself up, off the chair and shuffled back to his bed. He flopped down, his heart leaping a mile a minute out of his chest. Apart from the sound of his heart he could hear nothing. He could smell nothing too and that made him worried. _No one_ in the world, whether it be the normal world, the spy world or the criminal world, _ever ever_ made false threatens. "What's happening!" he asked himself over and over again although no matter how hard he searched his brain for answers, he never got one. He began to panic and lost all of his senses. How much time had past since the door had slammed shut? A minute? Half an hour? An hour? A day?

Suddenly the door creaked open again and Alex could just make out the outlines of four giant reptiles. Their scaly skin glimmered in the faint light. The great beasts opened their humongous jaws revealing rows of razor sharp teeth that shone like a jewel would in the sun. It seemed to Alex like they were leering at him. He tried to act cool. It didn't work. He felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck. He was sure he looked like he had been electrocuted. Alex felt his skin go as white as paper and his body temperature plunging to an astonishingly low number however he was sweating like crazy.

His head was ringing and he couldn't think the straight. The immense pain he was having to put up with in his shoulders wasn't helping matters at all. Ever since his encounter with Desmond McCain and the crocodiles, the beasts were the animals that terrified him the most. One look at those liquid, muddy brown eyes was enough to send shivers sprinting up and down Alex's spine. He wanted to cry but he couldn't. He wanted to scream but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything-he was paralysed with fear.

Before Alex realised what was happening, the biggest and fastest one jumped onto the creaky hospital bed that Alex was lying on. He felt all of the air being squeezed out of his lungs under the colossal weight of the crocodile He had been in situations like these before-so terrified he could barely speak, relying on his reactions and instincts to save him. He forced his mind to work now. He thought of an idea and then either forgot it or remembered the circumstances he was in. Then he would try another one in vain and the process would be repeated in his brain until he ran out of ideas. " Right," he wheezed to himself. "What next?" but his mind was blank. Well it wasn't blank but he was being distracted by the animal that had made him its arm chair. He remembered watching a television program with his Uncle Ian about crocodiles. " Now whatcha must never do when you're in a situation where you're confronted by a bunch of crocs is look 'em in the eye!" The T.V. man had said.

Alex did his best not to look into those eyes but he couldn't help it. His mind wandered and as a result of that, so did his eyes. He looked into the eyes. They were cold eyes, icy cold eyes. There would be no mistaking that the beast was evil. Alex tried to shake and move his head away to face the opposite direction of the ugly, evil face that he was staring at but he couldn't. It was like the animal had hypnotised him. Alex's head refused to move just as his eyes refused to even flicker. It was as if Alex and the beast were having a staring competition. In the end, Alex won. That was when it decided to make its move. Although Alex could practically see the reptile's brain thinking and he could almost hear its brain ticking, Alex wasn't a mind reader and he didn't know what was going on in croc's mind. The crocodile lurched back with his jaws open wide enough for an elephant to fit in. Then it lunged forward.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- The last chapter was really short so I'll try and make this one longer. Plese review!**

Suddenly Alex woke up. He shivered, drenched in his own cold sweat. His hands were clammy and his heart was beating so quickly and loudly that he was sure that the patients in the next door room would start complaining because of the noise. "Thank god it was just a dream!" Alex thought however it hadn't seemed like a dream at the time. Every detail was vivid and exact-even the man's speech. Thinking back to the dream, Alex sat up in realisation-the man was Desmond McCain. Alex nearly screamed from the immense pain he was feeling as he sat up.

Suddenly the door creaked open just like it did in Alex's dream. He couldn't stop himself; he shut his eyes and screamed. When he opened his eyes, he saw a startled looking nurse in front of his bed holding a mug with warm milk in it. "I-I heard you were a-aw-awake so I-I brought you up this g-gl-glass of w-w-warm milk. S-s-sorry if I disturbed you!" she stuttered.

"No! Not at all Lucy! I just had a bit of a bad dream." Alex replied sheepishly after recognising the nurse's voice.

"It doesn't matter poppet! I nearly jumped out of me skin in shock! I thought maybe someone 'ad kidnapped you again like last time!" Lucy grinned. That was why Alex's favourite nurse was Lucy: she was always joking about and smiling.

Half an hour later, after Alex had finished his milk and chat to Lucy, she stood up off his bed, gently tucked him up in bed and then tiptoed out of the room. She pulled the door but made sure that it was still a crack open. She sighed. Lucy was from the North of England. She knew everyone's name in the hospital. The kind nurse was extremely worried about Alex-it was his second time in the hospital in a year. She felt that she had bonded with him in a strange way and felt very protected over him even though she hardly knew anything about Alex.

Meanwhile, Jack Starbright was pacing up and down her bedroom. She was desperately worried about Alex; he just kept getting into trouble no matter how hard he tried not to. She knew that shouldn't be awake now but tucked up asleep in bed. "Alex will be fine!" an angelic voice said in her head. " He's in expert care and he's managed to get himself out of quite a few scrapes now hasn't he? Relax! You wouldn't want him worrying about you staying up all night would you?" Jack sighed, she knew the voice in her head was right. She lay down on her bed still fully dressed and tried to get some sleep.

Alex woke up with a start. He sat up and immediately regretted it he fell back down and rubbed his eyes. He was expecting an excruciating pain like the one he had experienced the last few mornings but he didn't feel anything. He moved his arms up and down and round and round like he was swimming. Lucy popped her head through the door and gasped in amazement as she watched Alex spinning round his arms like a mad man. "Whoa!" she cried. "Be careful Alex! You might rip the bandages!" Alex stopped and looked up! "Oooh! Is that breakfast!" he exclaimed hungrily. He licked his lips as he saw the feast that had been prepared for him, sausages, hash brown, fried egg, bacon and a bowl of fruit with whipped cream at the side. " I see you've got your appetite back!" Lucy laughed as she watched Alex's mouth watering as he cut up his sausages.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N-Thank you A-W-eng for your review! Please tell your friends to read and review-I have a sudden craving for reviews! Thank you also if you have put this story into your favourites! Thanks SO much! :D**

**Kittyx**

The door creaked open. "Not again!" Alex muttered. He had just finished his breakfast and was sipping hot chocolate with loads of mini marshmallows, whipped cream and cocoa powder. Even though he knew that Desmond McCain was dead and a bunch of crocodiles weren't going to slither through the door, the dream still haunted him like a ghost would. He shuddered and spilt some of his scorching hot hot chocolate on his arm. He cursed even though the burn wasn't as painful as the ones he was recovering from were.

"Hey!" a cheerful voice joked. "That's not a very nice greeting to your chauffeur!" Alex looked up. "Jack!" he yelled even though she had visited the day before.

"Hey Alex!" she exclaimed in her American accent. "So, y'all set to come home!" Alex nodded. He was too happy to say a word. Alex leaped right out of bed, miraculously not spilling hot chocolate every where, and bounded up to Jack. He didn't know why he was acting this way, after all, he saw Jack the day before so why was he so excited? "Whoa! Steady horsie!" laughed the familiar voice of Lucy. "You've got t o get checked up and catch just a bit more sleep to make up for last night first, yeah?" Alex sighed and got into bed; he just wanted to go home now; he had been in hospital for far too long now. The last he remembered was the soothing voice of Jack singing like she used to when Alex was younger. Then it went black.

Suddenly the lights tuned back on. Alex slowly sat up and wished he hadn't. Written across the wall of his room was a message. A message written in red.

Happy Birthday Alex!

I have a surprise for you!

From

Nile

P.S I wrote this in your beloved Jack's blood!

Alex stared at the message in horror. Then "Aaaaaggghhhh!" There was a scream and it was NOT from Alex. "Jack!" Alex shouted. "No! Jack! Answer me!" He jumped up on to the bed but was pushed back by a force greater than you could ever imagine. "I'm afraid she can't!" Alex looked up a giant figure towered above Alex. Half of its face was black, the other half white. Alex shuddered as he glimpsed at the glinting thing in his attacker's hand. "Let me give you your Birthday surprise!" The coloured man growled. Alex felt his throat tighten. He was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. He felt hot then cold then hot then as cold as ice. His were sweaty so was his fore head and pretty much all of his body. He didn't know what his Birthday present would be but he had a pretty good idea of what it was and it wasn't pretty or good. Nile was going to stab him. In broad daylight. In his own bed.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Sorry I haven't been on for a while, I was on holiday in Lyme Regis on the Dorset Coast. Thanks Nwoody for your fab review!**

"Hey, Alex! Are you alright? Alex! Talk to me!" Jack shouted kindly. Alex opened his eyes and looked into the pair of worried eyes that peered back at him anxiously. Jack was sitting on his bed looking down at him with a very concerned face on. Alex frowned, he didn't remember there being a CD player in the room yet an earblastingly loud, high pitched sound could be heard. "Alex," Jack shouted but Alex could still hear the kindness and genuine concern in her voice. "You can stop screaming now!" The boy looked at the mirror which hung on the opposite wall to the one that the hospital bed was against. As he peered closer, (which he needed to do to see anything very well as his eyesight was failing him at that second) he could see that his mouth was open. Alex put two and two together and realised that _he _was the one making the loud high pitched sound. He was screaming.

Alex speedily stopped the noise and watched as a look of relief washed over Lucy's face. He felt his cheeks turn a beetroot colour. "Wha-wha- what did I say I-I mean when I wa-wa-was asleep?" he stuttered.

"You just shouted 'Jack! Jack! Answer me!' and then you tried to stand up and it worried me-you could have fallen and seriously hurt yourself so I pushed you down." This time it was Lucy who saw a look of relief wash over Alex's face. "What did you dream about honey?" Jack asked kindly.

Alex shook his head "Nothing, well obviously something but it doesn't matter." Jack sighed. She was clearly dissatisfied with Alex's answer but she knew that he was having a hard time at the moment; Lucy had told her as they were walking to Alex's room that he had had _another_ nightmare last night and starting screaming as soon as she opened the door to his room. There was a silence that lasted an age. The three people in the room looked at each other, the two adults with concerned looks and Alex with, well just an Alex look.

Lucy broke the silence by saying that it was high time that Alex went for his check up. Alex slowly hauled himself out of bed, wincing at the small pain that was still there whenever he moved. He plodded behind Lucy. His fluffy, white and very comfortable hospital slippers were making a comforting padding noise on the cold, hard floor. Jack followed Alex enthusiastically clearly unable to retain herself from the excitement of the good news that she expected to come. Unfortunately just as the 'Rider Conga Line' had gone through Alex's room's door, the sound of Justin Bieber singing 'Baby' very loudly came from inside Jack's enormous handbag. Alex stopped and turned around so that he could look her in the eye. He raised his eyebrows and stood with his hands on hips. "Hurry up and answer the phone so that that Justin Beaver rubbish can stop!" Alex said sarcastically.

" Uh! Justin is NOT rubbish! I think that now that you've said that I won't answer the phone." Jack replied indignantly but with a silly smile on her face." I'll just let it ring and sing along till you go insane!" she sang. She watched Alex's eyebrows slither further and further up his head until they could go no more. " Fine!" Jack sighed and she reluctantly rummaged about in her colossal hand bag and pulled out her bright, pink, sparkly phone. Before she answered it, she looked at Alex sadly and said "I'll be back as soon as this conversation ends." and with that she ran off, her three inch high stilettos making a loud 'clip clop' noises that repeated many times for the hall way was so bare and ill furnished that the sound echoed again and again and again.

Before long, Jack was out of sight. Alex stared at the door that she had just walked through. Without Jack he felt weak, limp and lifeless. He wasn't sure if it was psychological thing or not, but when Jack wasn't near him, he felt the pain more intensely. Lucy grabbed hold of his hand and started to pull him along the corridor. She evidently sensed that something was wrong with Alex. "Cheer up!" she exclaimed in her lively voice. "Don't worry, Alex, she'll be fine." Alex looked up suddenly-he had just been thinking about how vulnerable Jack was and how he was worried about her-just what Lucy had summed up.

Lucy obviously saw the look of surprise on his face and laughed. "After you've been a nurse as long as I have." she explained. "You learn to read people's body language. Most people are easy to read. In fact, I can read pretty much every one I see, all the doctors, all the patients, I can read them all like you can read baby books. I can read them back-to-front, upside-down and inside-out...however, _you _are different your close to impossible to read. I reckon, that only highly trained professionals like myself can read you. For anyone else that tries to read you? Well let's just say that would be like trying to read a 'Harry Potter' book in English if you were French and you didn't understand a drop of English." Alex laughed at this explanation and Lucy was glad to see his shoulders loosen a little. By the time the pair got to the doctor's room, they were smiling, laughing and joking which pleased Dr. Kennedy very much.

At the end of his check up Alex was very happy. They had all been joking and laughing the whole time. So much so that it wasn't until Lucy and he got out into the corridor and started walking that Alex realised something was wrong. "Where's Jack?" he asked panicking slightly.

Lucy smiled " Oh don't worry! She's probably still out side, you know your check up session wasn't very long and if it was her mother on the phone, gosh! Mothers talk for ages! Don't worry!" But Alex did worry. Especially when he saw John Crawley and Mrs. Jones outside his door both with even grimmer looks then the usually have.


	5. Chapter 5a there's more to come!

**A/N Sorry I took so long to update the last chapter I've had writer's block for AGESSSSSS! Thanks to every one who has taken the time to read my story; I really appreciate it! Oh and please review! :P**

**Kitty**

When Jack woke up she was being jostled around in what seemed to be the back of a van. "Where on earth am I?" She thought as her eyes adjusted to the dim light. She seemed to be amongst a lot of sacks of potatoes or something like that. There didn't appear to be any other human or animals in the lorry although she couldn't be sure.

A few hours ago Jack clip clopped out of the hospital and started to speak to her mother on the phone. "Yeah I'm fine, Mum! How're you?" She chatted.

"I'm good when are you coming out to see us?" Her Mother asked.

"Oh Alex is in hospital and it's his birthday on Wednesday so not for a while yet. Sorry!"

"Oh no, hon, that's fine. Listen now, I've got something very important to tell you. I've been putting off telling you for a while but now your father has said to tell you. Listen carefully and don't tell a soul what I'm about to tell you. Be careful with Alex. Look after him. Keep him safe. You see I don't know how to tell you this but well I best just say it. Here goes well…BEEEEEEEP!"

Jack was puzzled the reception outside the hospital was always excellent and she had the full five bars of signal so why was she cut off? And what was the secret thing her Mother was talking about? The more Jack thought about it, the more puzzled she got.

Suddenly two men came over to her and linked arms either side of her. Another came up behind her. She felt something cold and hard pressing into her back. It was the unmistakable feeling of a gun pointing into her back. The man behind her whispered threateningly in her ear" The gun is hidden from view. It has a silencer attached to it. I could easily pull the trigger and we could run away. No one would notice. So That's what's going to happen if you don't cooperate act as if we're old friends and haven't seen each for years," Jack nervously did her best at acting happy. All the while she was thinking 'What would Alex do?'

The behind man who Jack was calling scar face, because he sported a hideously long scar that ran down the full length of the right side of his face, leaned close to her again and whispered menacingly "Get in the car." Trembling with fear Jack went to open the front passenger door, only to feel the gun dig further into her spine. Shiver sprinted up and down her back "In the back!" Scar face hissed angrily. The man Jack called 'Fatty' opened the door for her and gave her a crooked smile.

Fatty was so fat he could only just fit in the jeep, however Jack figured that most of his immense bulk was actually muscle and not fat. He had the most disgusting face you could imagine; thin, greasy black hair sat on the top of his head; his lips looked like he had paid one too many visits to the plastic surgeons to get them filled. Everything about was grotesque and massive. The last man she 'called' 'Baldie' for he had a shiny, bald head that was nearly the exact shape of a sphere. What Jack didn't realise was there was a fourth man who was driving the car. Jack put on her seatbelt carefully. She was wedged in between Baldie and Fatty-Scar face (who seemed to be the leader of the group was in the passenger seat. Just before they set off, the driver turned round to the back and smiled smugly as Jack gasped at his appearance. He cackled evilly "Are you all strapped in? It doesn't really matter because I'm driving whether you are or not!" Suddenly the jeep started up. Jack couldn't move any part of her body because of the G-force.

She had decided to call the driver 'Knobbly nose' because he had a broken nose that all sorts of revolting knobbles and bumps on it. After an hour of driving, the jeep pulled up to the side of the road and all of the men got out. They all strolled to the café that was near where they had parked the vehicle.

Mean whilst, back in the car, Jack had tried all of the doors and all of the windows in vain. She sighed, frustrated for failing. "What on earth would Alex do in a situation like this?" It seemed that she was making her brain work so hard on trying to think what to do, that it could think of nothing at all. Both of the doors in the back appeared to have the child locks engaged and all of the windows had been locked and the doors in the front either had hidden handles or none at all. She was trapped.

Half an hour later, Knobbly Nose, Baldie, Fatty and Scar Face trudged back to the car. They all took their seats and carried on until they got to a one way country road. Once again Knobbly Nose turned to the back and said "Nearly there!" in the most horrible, croaky, evil voice.

"Err, excuse me," Jack said quietly. "Is it possibly possible if we could stop off somewhere so I can use the toilet?"

Scar face grinned as if he had an evil plan, "Stop here" he commanded quietly. Then he climbed out of the car and opened one of the back doors. Jack clambered over Baldie and stood up. "This wasn't what I meant." She said grimly.

"I don't really care!" Scar face laughed, "Just get on with it!"

"Any chance I could have some privacy?" Jack asked. Soon after, they were back on the road.

Suddenly, there was a screech and the van stopped. Jack was thrown forward and hit one of the hard, metal walls of the vehicle. She grunted in pain. "I'm such an idiot!" she thought, "How could I have let this happen? What about Alex? Who will look after him while I'm...um...wherever I am now? This is _all_ my fault." Jack slumped against the wall behind her, admitting defeat. She felt lost and scared, and very tired, so I guess you could say, she felt like a little girl, waiting for her mum to come and sweep her up into her arms and tell her it would all be alright. And sure enough, as if on cue, her mother's voice floated from the sky, it seemed, into her ears and around her head. "What _are _you doing in that old van? And more to the point, why aren't you even _trying _to get out of that old van? You know I always say, the lord helps those who help themselves, so come on! Get of that big backside of yours and let people know that my Jack's in a van! As for all this it's your fault stuff! UM, Jack, how is being kidnapped your fault, hon? Don't worry about Alex, the hospital will look after him, he'll be fine. Besides, I don't think you're in a position to worry about anyone except yourself-you are, after all, sitting barely conscious in the back of some man's vans parked up goodness-knows-where! So remember Jack, I'm gonna say it again 'cause you know I love this phrase, the Lord helps those who help themselves!"

Jack knew that either she had just sub-consciously invented that speech and disguised it with her mother's voice, or she was going mad...or maybe, both! However her 'mother's speech' did have a point-sh should be doing more to get out. Jack couldn't help but feel something niggling away at the back of her mind, but what? She couldn't quite work out what it was but she knew, in good time, she would realise and it would engulf and, unless she was extremely careful, and quick-witted, drown her.

Jack slowly got to her feet. She leaned against the wall to steady herself, only standing up straight when her world had stopped spinning. She banged on the walls of the van but only a pathetically quiet thud sound was made. Jack let out a sob of disappointment. "HELP!" she shouted, "SOMEBODY! HELP ME!" she banged her fists on the sides of the van with such a force that she was almost certain that dents had been formed on the metall. Jack shouted and shouted until her throat hurt and she was sure, she'd never speak again. Then the door opened.


End file.
